Oops...

...I definitely dropped off the face of the earth there for almost 2 weeks. I've gotten so many questions about my time in Nashville from those who aren't lucky (or misfortunate?) enough to have to hear my ramblings in person. My bad. I apologize. But does it make it even a little better if I say that I pretty much had the best last 2 weeks ever? I hope so, because I did! It all seems a little bit of a blur to me, but in the best way possible. I'm sort of floating along at this point.

So, for Nashville...what can I say? It was my 13th conference with my company (please refrain from inserting old-age jokes), and I have to say it was my best/favorite ever. It was just the perfect mix of excitement, hilarity, learning (we squeezed a little in there), revelry, mishaps, a little flirty love (I mean, it's us...that can never be avoided, let's be honest)...everything that makes a great company conference. I, of course, failed to take many pictures - I got a few, but haven't even uploaded them yet...I'll share when I do - but in place of photo evidence of all the shenanigans, here are the highlights:

1. Drinking and "working" all afternoon on Tuesday with some of my besties (we DID get some work done...it just took us longer than it should have)
2. Fried pickles
3. Balloon guy at social event - his two best creations? A birthday cake balloon hat (for my girl, ES!), and two pink balloon jock strap/drink holders...the wearers will remain nameless (unless you were there...then you know who I'm talking about)
4. #2 best quote of the conference - "Please excuse my aging disease."
5. By far the #1 quote - "Um...did you just motor-boat your martini?!"
6. Doing a flash mob dance (cupid's shuffle to a Hall & Oates song) DURING the company meeting on Thursday afternoon...priceless. (I was, proudly, one of the first 10 people to kick it off)
7. Me singing a solo and duet, while leaning on a grand piano, in front of all 800 of my coworkers. (Nailed it!)
8. Trying to play cherades for the word "popsicle" (seriously...try it)
9. Burger Up!
10. Walking through the giant hotel barefoot at 3:00am (including through the rocks in the jungle atrium)...and then wondering 4 hours later why my feet were all scraped up...
11. Party whistles! (AK and I rocked them all night on Thursday...and I'm pretty sure every other person was insanely jealous)
12. Doing the 'running man' dance in yellow stilettos in front of coworkers (and then tripping...but luckily out of most people's view)
13. My order of training materials copies being lost...and as a result, me spending 3 hours at the hotel Fedex-Kinko's on Wednesday morning (babysitting their staff to make sure my stuff got done!)
14. Drinking the dance club bar entirely out of Ketel One...and being oh-so-proud of it...but also a little peeved that they didn't have more
15. Company cocktail hour on the hotel lawns, that looked exactly like a wedding reception. So other guests kept asking who the happy couple was...eventually one of my friends and I just said it was us.
16. Texting my 'honey bun' during the meetings...even though he was sitting approximately 10 inches away from me (it was for the best...no one else really needed to be in on that!)
17. Being totally fine running on 2 - 2.5 hours of sleep per night (seems so crazy, but we always make it happen!)

Every single time I leave one of these conferences, I just know that I have another big set of memories that I will remember for the rest of my life. And from this one in Nashville? Probably...no DEFINITELY, the biggest and best set (so far...). Yee-haw! What an amazing time.

Conference, Conference, Gotta Get Down at Conference...

It's finally here!! My company's spring conference. What we've all been counting down to, pretty much since our fall conference ended. No, I'm not kidding. These conferences are an experience like no other. The location changes every time, and we all descend on a city for the better part of a week...and it's a blur. A wonderful, exciting, crazy, super fun blur. Love it, love it, love it. This time we are in Nashville, and we are staying at the incredible Gaylord Opryland Resort (just recently totally renovated because of the Nashville floods about a year and a half ago). Here is just a taste of this place:

Yes, that last picture is, in fact, of the boats that run through waterways all throughout the resort, indoors and outdoors. And oh yes, I will be riding one at some point.

This place is the equivalent of 3 hotels all in one...it's HUGE. When you check-in, they give you a map with your room key. Word of advice - keep that map handy. I got lost TWICE last night while trying to locate my room. Now, I know I'm directionally challenged by nature (thanks Mom!), but I think even Magellan would have gotten confused here.

Anyway, it's amazing, and I'm so thankful that our company is kind enough to put us up here all week, and host all kinds of fun events and cocktail parties, and really just let us all let loose and have fun together. I have ants in my pants right now, I'm so excited. I'm dying for more people to get here...more come today, and a bunch tomorrow too. But I was one of the very first (possibly the actual first) to arrive last night...so I'm ready for all my 'Kamper friends to get here and get this ridiculous party started. Spring Conference 2011...it shall be epic.

The Eagle Has Landed

Don't any of you worry...the flowers are safely in Portland with me! It was quite a day. My wake-up call was at 4:45am CST. I headed to O'Hare for my journey to Portland (through Minneapolis), with the flowers in tow. I checked my giant suitcase, so that freed my hands up a little, but it was still tricky to figure out how to get those bad boys across the country. To get through airport security, I had to dump the water out of the vase. My solution to keep the flowers wet throughout the day? Wrap the stems in a wet washcloth. A washcloth that I took from my guest room at the Q Center. Don't freak out though...I told them I did it when I checked out. I also said I would bring it back next time I came. They laughed and said I could go ahead and keep it. Sweet...free washcloth.

They had to go through the airport x-ray machine on their side, which was a little nerve-wrecking. But Jose, the TSA agent, waited for them on the other side and protected them until I could make my way through with all my other crap. That was a fairly big hurdle to clear. Throughout the rest of the day the flowers went in bathrooms at 3 airports (ORD, MSP, and PDX), drank Starbucks water, sat in 4 different chairs, got endless compliments, made their owner a spectacle, and rode on 2 airplanes. Here is photo evidence...they rode in 1st class on one flight (in a coat closet), and in the exit row on the other (on their side under a seat):

I only got 3 hours of sleep last night. Please excuse how awful I look in this photo.

The flowers also rode backseat in a rental car (upgrade again - brand new Jeep with only 34.7 miles on it):

Maybe carrying those around all day was a little like having a child with me? Possibly good preparation for parenthood some day. (but not entirely...note that the flowers were not buckled in)

They are now comfortably sitting on a dresser in my hotel room in Lake Oswego. They look great after all they've been through! And they're continuing to bring cheer to me. Most definitely.

Never a dull moment, right?

Dear Matty,

You, brother of mine, are amazing. You call me last night, only to find me in a bit of a "shambles" type of situation...super stressed about work, thinking way too much about some personal-life things going on (nothing horrible...just confusing and a little stressful), more tired and exhausted than I have been in a LONG time (as in, barely hanging on and dark circles under my eyes), and on top of all that? Crying. Not just a few tears running down my cheeks...but full on crying. Breathing abnormally and all. Rubbing my face and eyes with a Q Center dinner napkin. (Paper...not even linen or something nice!)

So what do you do? You listen to me talk (parts of it hard to understand), give me some advice, tell me you love me, tell me you wish I was geographically closer so you could give me a big hug, and allow me to really just be a super hard person to talk to. Seriously. I was a mess last night. But you put up with it all, acted the part of the wonderful big brother, and then...

...had these delivered to me today at the Q Center:

Really?! Are you for real?!?! I was absolutely floored. And then proceeded to cry again.

Here was my conversation with the desk lady:
Her - "Ms. Olson, we have a delivery for you to come pick up at the desk."
Me - "Huh? I didn't order anything."
Her - "Well there's something here for you, and I'm sure you'll want to come down and pick it up so you can take them back to your room and enjoy them."
Me - "Ooooooo-kay. I'll be right down."

No idea what the heck I'm going to get, I throw on sweatpants and head to the front desk (which at the Q Center is approximately a 1 mile walk from the suite guest rooms that I stay in)...wondering the whole time "What in the world am I going to pick up?"

Then I walk up to the desk and see a giant flower delivery...and nothing else. Could it be? Are those for me?! Indeed. You are truly amazing, and I'm so lucky to have you, and I love you so very much.

Thanks for being so great. You are one of a kind.

And yes...I will, in fact, be taking those with me on my cross-country journey tomorrow. Piece of cake. I'm a seasoned traveler.

Love,
Your little sister

So...confused....

Is it possible to be right AND misguided at the same time? About the same thing? I sort of hope so (although it's not an ideal situation), because that is exactly how I am feeling at the moment. So basically I'm looking for justification for it, and for confirmation that I'm not totally insane. A tall order, I know!

My weekend back in good 'ole Chapel Hill was simply wonderful. It felt incredible to be back there, and to see all my amazing friends (who I miss very much when I am not there), and hang at all the old haunts...Southern Village, Brixx, The Crunkleton, Carolina Cafe, Alta Springs (the pool in particular), and of course Bub's. And absolutely to see my baby girl - sweet Lalo! I finally got to see her beautiful face and give her lots of doggy-mama love. It was pure bliss. No more question mark on the end of "coming home" - it should really have been a period. Or an exclamation point.

So many things came rushing back to me upon my return. A whole mix of different emotions, which was about what I was expecting. The majority of those were just happiness, excitement to be back, impatience to see all my friends right away...really just good stuff. But mixed in there were some weird "remembering my past life" kind of feelings. I guess it's probably natural to have some of that upon a return like that, and after having been gone a significant amount of time, but it's definitely left me feeling a little unsettled coming off of the weekend. Today has been filled with travel (flight to Chicago), work (meeting with my boss, leading a new hire training class all afternoon, and then trying to catch up on other stuff from about 6:30pm until now - 11:00pm), and then mostly thinking a lot about everything that happened this weekend, and how it actually makes me feel. I guess I need a good day or two (or maybe a week) to really process and figure it out...but for the moment it's left me pondering that question - whether or not it's possible to be right/doing the right thing, but also be misguided/not exactly doing the right thing at the same time. That probably makes no sense to anyone else...but give me another day or two and I might be able to actually put my thoughts into English. I'm trying.